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| Turkey eyes new investments
opportunities in Uighur region |
By İSA YAZAR
02 September 2009, Wednesday
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Today's Zaman |
Foreign Trade Minister Zafer
Çağlayan has said Turkey expects to make new investments
in China's Uighur Autonomous Region's (Xinjiang)
capital, Urumqi, densely populated by Muslim Uighur
Turks, as part of efforts to improve economic relations
with China.
Speaking Tuesday following a meeting with Chinese Prime
Minister Wen Jiabao in Beijing, Çağlayan said Turkey
expected to improve relations with China and that mutual
investments played a critical role to this end. “We have
discussed issues including trade between the two
countries with the prime minister. Turkey is pleased to
learn that more Chinese firms have expressed interest in
investing in our country,” the minister said.
Underlining that Turkey's exports to China are far below
its imports from the country, he said they expected to
establish a balance in mutual trade and encourage
Turkish exporters to enter the Chinese market. The
minister said the government sought China's support on
this, with further incentives for Turkish entrepreneurs
who are willing to do business in China.
Noting that the mutual trade volume between Turkey and
Xinjiang is currently around $20 million, Çağlayan said
the government expects to boost trade with the area in
the coming years. Çağlayan said his visit was important
for increasing the morale of Turkish entrepreneurs who
were negatively affected by the recent clashes in
Urumqi. Over 140 people were killed and 800 others were
injured following violence in Urumqi in early July.
Noting that he voiced Turkey's concerns about the recent
events in Urumqi during his meeting with the Chinese
prime minister, Çağlayan said he observed that both
countries were determined to further improve relations
despite the incidents.
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